I agree with these statements, however what we are talking about in the Terri Schiavo case is the wholesale destruction of the cerebral cortex, not a synapes failure. If you think about the synapsis of the brain as the wiring- elecrtical connections- one can repair the wiring from the power pole to the house, but if the house has burned down the lights will still not go on.
In Terri's case the house has burned down and what is left is nothing but ashes. The dead tissue has atrophied and the volume once occupied by her cerebral cortex has been replaced by spinal fluid. There is no mechanism which will grow or otherwise generate new brain tissue.
Christopher Reeves is not an example applicable to the Terri Schiavo situation. He suffered a spinal cord injury, not a brain injury. I submit that rather than a synapse regeneration to his diaphragm, he has retrained himself to breathe using other muscle groups. This would explain the two hour limitation on his ability to breathe unassisted. His synapses dont get tired- his muscles do. I admire his determination, however I cannot agree that he is an example of a regeneration od nerve tissue.